Entertainment
Bruce Campbell Officially Seals Ash’s Evil Dead Return Fate [Exclusive]
Bruce Campbell and The Evil Dead have been practically inseparable for more than four decades. Ash Williams turned Campbell into a horror icon, and even as the franchise has grown well beyond the cabin where it all started, Campbell has remained one of the people helping steer the ship. Campbell has already retired Ash Williams, something he would very much like everyone to remember he announced years ago, but that didn’t mean he was done with Evil Dead altogether, despite not wanting to return to that particular role.
Instead, Campbell moved behind the scenes, remaining involved as a producer alongside longtime collaborators Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert as a new generation of filmmakers got their chance to unleash the Deadites. The results have proven that Evil Dead can absolutely survive without Ash wielding the chainsaw, but Campbell has never been all that far away. Until now, at least, because it turns out, retiring Ash isn’t the only way his relationship with the franchise is going to change.
Now, Campbell is ready to take another step back. While speaking with Collider’s Aidan Kelley about his new film Ernie & Emma, Campbell revealed that he has started distancing himself from the producing side of Evil Dead, though that doesn’t mean he’s completely leaving the franchise behind. “I am, to a degree. I’m even distancing myself a little bit from that,” Campbell said when asked about his continued involvement as an Evil Dead producer.
‘Ernie & Emma’ Helped Bruce Campbell Step Away From the Studio System
Campbell explained that he “didn’t have a whole lot to do with Evil Dead Burn,” marking a significant change from the previous installments, where Campbell was willing to follow the movies all the way through post-production. “The previous two movies, I would uproot myself and go to Copenhagen or wherever they’re doing post-production, and I’d live there and sit in on the mix,” said Campbell. “I’m very interested in sound and all that.”
The decision isn’t the result of a falling out with Raimi, Tapert, or the filmmakers now carrying Evil Dead forward. Instead, Campbell has simply grown tired of working within the studio system. He recalled watching filmmakers receive extensive notes throughout the development process and realizing that, unlike his longtime partners, he never particularly enjoyed navigating that world. “I realized I have two partners, Rob Tapert [and] Sam Raimi. They know executives by name. I never knew any of these guys,” Campbell explained.
“They’ve been in the studio game from the go-get, they make studio movies. They get that world. I never got it, never understood it, and I never liked it.”
Campbell stressed that his decision has nothing to do with the people he has spent decades making Evil Dead alongside. He still partners with Raimi and Tapert, but he reached a point where he didn’t feel like he could give the producing side of the franchise the enthusiasm it deserved. “I’m still partners with those guys, but I couldn’t get as joyfully involved as I should be as a partner,” Campbell said. “And I said, ‘You guys, you guys don’t want a grumpy partner on this. Let me just step aside.’”
That doesn’t mean Campbell has stopped paying attention to where Evil Dead goes next. In fact, he seems more than comfortable handing the franchise over to the filmmakers who have helped reinvent it. Campbell praised the directors behind the more recent movies, pointing to Fede Álvarez and Lee Cronin as evidence that Evil Dead has found filmmakers capable of taking what he, Raimi, and Tapert started and making it their own. “They’re all good filmmakers,” said Campbell, “and so they’re in pretty good hands with the guys.”
That’s ultimately why he asked, “to just kind of get off the treadmill to a degree.” And when Kelley asked whether he was at least still somewhat involved, Campbell offered one final reassurance: “I’m aware of what’s going on.” So, no, Campbell isn’t completely saying goodbye to Evil Dead. His days of moving overseas to sit in on the production may be behind him, and Ash Williams remains firmly retired, but Campbell isn’t cutting himself off from the franchise that has defined so much of his career.
Ernie & Emma is now playing in select theaters. Stay tuned at Collider for more.
- Release Date
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October 15, 1981
- Runtime
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85 minutes
- Director
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Sam Raimi
- Producers
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Robert Tapert
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